Todays Transactions: Dave & Busters Blames Market For Canceled IPO

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc., the restaurant and arcade company that is backed by private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, has withdrawn its initial public offering (IPO).

The Dallas franchise was scheduled to price the IPO late on Oct. 4 and was expected to begin trading on Oct. 5 under the ticker symbol 'PLAY' on the Nasdaq exchange. However, Dave & Buster's decided not to “based on continued volatility for new issuers in the equity market,” according to a statement.

Chief executive Steve King says that even though potential investors expressed interest in Dave & Buster's, “current market conditions are not optimal for an IPO at this time.”

The chain filed for IPO initially in July 2011. In September, Dave & Buster’s said an offering of 7.69 million shares was planned at a price of $12 to $14 per share, and that it intended to use the proceeds to pay down debt. Oak Hill, which spent $570 million to acquire the company in June 2010 from a consortium of private equity owners that included Wellspring Capital Management, currently holds about $80 million in senior notes.

Goldman Sachs & Co., Jefferies and Piper Jaffray were the lead underwriters.

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